Citizenship Part 9

Only the voters who can vote in the party primary are those who registered for the previous election as members of that party.

Certificates and pet.i.tions of nomination must be filed with the Secretary of State not more than seventy-five days and not less than forty-five days, before the day fixed by law for the election of the persons in nomination, also certificates and pet.i.tions are directed to be filed with the clerk of the county court not more than seventy-five and not less than forty-five days before the election.

The primary elections are conducted in the same manner as any other election.

The two methods of making nominations are by a caucus or convention system, and the primary election system.

The qualifications for a voter at a primary are the same as election.

On the first Sat.u.r.day in August each year from 6 o'clock a. m. to 4 o'clock p. m. there shall be held at the regular polling places in each election precinct a primary election for the nomination of candidates for office by political parties, to be voted for at the next November election. You do not register to vote in the primary, and a citizen not of age at the time of the primary, but will be twenty-one before the November election can vote in the primary.

Primaries are conducted similar to elections--about same laws and regulations.

ELECTIONS.

After all the political parties have nominated their candidates then the struggle for election begins.

The period of a few months between the nominations and elections is spent by each party in trying to get votes for its candidate.

Every voter must be twenty-one years old, a resident of the state for one year, of the county six months, and of the precinct sixty days.

On election day the voter goes to the polling place and appears before the election officers, who will probably be the same ones who presided at the registration. You give your name and residence, and if you live in a city where registration is required you must produce your registration certificate and one of the judges may consult the registration book to see if you have registered. If found to be registered, the clerk will write your name and address upon the stub of the ballot book and endorse his own name on the back of the ballot, and remove the ballot from the book leaving the stub (called the primary stub) in the book.

The voter will go into a voting booth with the ballot folded, then unfold the ballot, take the stencil, press it on the ink pad and if you desire to vote a straight party ticket place the stencil mark in the circle immediately underneath the device of the party whose candidates you desire to vote for. If you desire to vote for candidates irrespective of any party affiliation you will place the stencil mark in the small square immediately following the name of each candidate for whom you desire to vote.

When the ballot is thus completed you lay the stencil aside, fold the ballot in exactly the same manner as when you received it from the clerk and then return it to the judge of the election, who removes the secondary stub from the ballot and deposits the ballot itself in the ballot box. If any voter spoils or defaces a ballot by mistake so that it cannot be used he may return it, and get another, and the fact noted by the clerk by writing the word "spoiled" on the stub and spoiled ballot.

No person except the election officers shall remain within fifty feet of the polls, except when voting.

It shall be the duty of the sheriff in each county before an election to secure in each precinct of the county a suitable room in which to hold the election, and have sufficient booths in which electors shall mark their ballots, screened from observation.

Our laws concerning elections are more stringent in the past few years. Every precaution is taken to insure honesty of elections.

No officer of election shall do any electioneering on election day.

In all elections in Kentucky the voting shall be by ballot.

The ballot boxes are opened and inspected before voting begins to see that they are empty.

Electioneering is forbidden within one hundred feet of the polls.

Twice as many official ballots are provided for every polling place as there are registered voters in the district.

If a person is illiterate he is allowed a.s.sistance in marking his ballot.

An inspector may challenge a person's vote, but if they swear they are eligible their vote is recorded and marked challenged.

A person cannot vote who is not naturalized for at least ninety days before election. Also a person convicted of bribery or an infamous crime, a deserter from the army or navy, and one who bets on that election cannot vote.

The Governor of the State may restore one to citizens.h.i.+p so that they can vote.

In registration polls are opened from 6 a. m. to 9 p. m., but in election polls are opened from 6 a. m. to 4 p. m.

When the polls are closed the ballots are counted by the election officers and announced and placed in ballot box, which is locked by officers, who then take the ballot box, poll books, certificates, etc., to the county clerk who unlocks the box in the presence of the election officers to see if the packages containing the ballots are properly sealed, and if so, the county clerk issues his receipt for the box and ballots--one to the judge, and one to the sheriff.

The county clerk within a certain time sends the ballots to a canva.s.sing board which examines them and makes an official announcement of the number of votes cast for each candidate, and gives them a certificate of their election. The successful candidates are notified and later installed into office.

AMENDMENTS TO CONSt.i.tUTION.

Amendments to the Const.i.tution are handled in the same way as an election. The ballot contains the amendment proposed with "Yes" or "No" printed at the side. The party voting crosses out one of these words, puts the ballot in the blank envelope and returns it as in an election.

VOTING BY MAIL.

Voting by mail is often a great convenience.

The world is becoming more democratic and the right to vote for representation is now arranged so that all eligible citizens of the United States, twenty-one and over, may have a part in governing his or her country.

If a voter is out of the state or county and holds his residence in the same place as when he voted last--or calls home--he or she can vote by mail. He must first register, which is also done by mail.

A printed ballot with return envelope is sent to him. The ballot is marked by placing a cross opposite the name of the candidate voted for, then put in a blank envelope, sealed and enclosed in an envelope addressed to the secretary or clerk of the county or chairman of the tellers.

This envelope must be signed by the one voting. The blank envelope containing the ballot is opened and the ballot deposited in the ballot box.

The one voting must take an oath before a notary public that he or she is eligible.

ELECTORS FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT.

When the voters go to the polls on election day to vote for President and Vice President every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November they really cast their ballots for the electors who were nominated at the state convention. The names of the state electors of each party are printed on the ballots under the party name. The ones receiving the most votes are elected, and are morally bound to vote for the candidate of the party that elected them.

The campaign continues until the election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The electors elected in November meet at their state capital in January and vote for President and Vice President. The result of this vote is dispatched at once to the President of the Senate at Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C. The electors of the different states meet at Was.h.i.+ngton on the morning of the second Monday in January after their election, and give their vote at or after twelve o'clock according to law.

On the second Wednesday in February succeeding the meeting of the electors, the Senate and House of Representatives meet in the Hall of Representatives at 1 o'clock p. m. with the President of the Senate presiding.

Two tellers are appointed in each House to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the President of the Senate, all the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the ---- electoral voters, which certificates and papers shall be opened, presented and acted upon in alphabetical order of the states; said tellers having then read the same in the presence and hearing of the two Houses, shall make a list of the voters as they shall appear from the said certificates, and the votes having been ascertained and counted, according to law; the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall announce the result of the vote, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States, and together with the list of voters be entered on the journals of the two Houses.

If no one receives a majority of all the electoral votes the Const.i.tution provides that the House of Representatives shall choose a President and the Senate a Vice President. (Article XII, National Const.i.tution.)

The President and Vice President are inaugurated on March 4th succeeding the election.

They take the oath of office on a platform on the east front of the Capitol. The President delivers an address outlining his policies, then returns to the White House.

CHAPTER IX.